Camino Claro Blog

guau! put some plants in dirt and watch ‘em grow: my basic lesson plan around Las Gemelas’ garden — and it’s working! things are shooting roots, sprouting sprigs, and just asking to be eaten. if you don’t believe me, just look at Naomi, she was so tempted to have a taste that mid-photo she began munching on a leaf.

when we first started planning for the garden and setting things up we all had our doubts as to the outcome of our projected peapatch, but who would’ve thought it’d look so healthy so soon. there are yard beans longer than jump-ropes already. i’m pleased with their gusto and encourage the other plants to learn from their fine example of surpassing expectations. the yucca is above ground and photosynthesizing as we speak. looks real good, except those weird little purple growths some have developed…but neither here nor there since you eat the roots…heh heh. we’ve even got things growing that we didn’t plant. on one of the fence posts there’s a really cool orchid (maybe) growing. hadas conveniently points this out in one of the photos. i’d like to take the time to point out right now how awesome hadas is. such a strong and positive force in the pavones community — thanks for your motivation and support.

~Jacob

Thriving yucca plant

Master-gardener Hadas with her yard beans

I am so very behind getting the community garden posts online, so since a lot has happened in the past few months, there will be a bundle of them coming at ya!  Now on to Jacob’s charming post:

hot dang, the garden at Las Gemelas elementary school has been planted and is growing! costa rica is a splendid location for gardening with children (or children-like adults) because the soil is often rich, moist, and loose, making it easy for digging and planting. so long as you avoid the telltale shard of glass or plastic bag that made its way into the composition of the soil, you’ll be fine.

once things are planted, the kids, and kid-like adults, need not wait too long for some action on the garden’s behalf. the school and myself had a 2-week break and upon our return to school we were stoked with the life and progress that has taken root, muahaha no pun intended but seriously, i even caught a couple rocks smiling at our results.

hadas and i are thrilled with the help we’ve had from all of the students and teachers at Las Gemelas. we’ve also had several volunteers come through and lend a hand, including cal and his group from Oregon. WOOOH cal! (cal is one of the “cool teachers” everyone wanted in highschool— cal rocks). OF COURSE, the garden would be nowhere without the help of alberto, the know-all of gardening. on thursday you could find us and another volunteer, marissa, hauling boards of teak from down the street for the construction of our compost bin. yeah we made quick/beautiful work of that compost bin. marissa and a few other study-abroad students from UCSF have been working with environmental issues and art in Punta Banco, right down the dirt road from Pavones. i honestly plan to take photos of the garden this week to show its progress … before the pinche horses somehow make their way in to eat everything.

i don’t trust horses. sorry all you horse lovers. ya got dog lovers, cat lovers, and horse lovers. i can trust a dog, but the latter two, nope. but let’s not leave on a negative remark. a friend of a friend once said “instead of killing two birds with one stone, wouldn’t you rather feed to birds with one seed?” ha! sounds so corny, but yet so comfortably politically correct…haha

~Jacob

last week Hadas and I hung out in two different classes at Las Gemelas working on some garden-related activities. the kids made posters to show what they thought should go in the garden, what it should look like, and create some ideas. i had a good time, hopefully the kids were inspired a bit about gardening…but i’m not sure i’d go that far. haha. anyways, these boys escaped from class a little early and were then entertained at the window by some traditional dancing. it was pretty cool, although i think they were more likely taunting the boys that were inside dancing. haha. little hellians…ah to be young and rambunctious again. nah, i don’t think i want to go back to that.

~Jacob

Apologies for the delay in posting the fabulous FINISHED MURAL, which is displayed on the wall of Pavones’ public school.

We all agree that the final product looks amazing and that it was a huge success. Thank you to Alex and Hadas and all the little helping hands, all of whom made the mural an aesthetically pleasing and culturally-inspiring piece of art!

Día de los Árboles

Who knew Costa Rica had a national tree day? Figures, considering 12% of the country is made up of National Parks and the tourism industry thrives off the rainforest and its diverse flora and fauna.

So here we are in Pavones, celebrating our bounty by sembrando árboles (planting trees) around the recently-installed playground! It was quite a spectacle last Monday, beginning with a parade leading from Pavones’ public grade school down the half mile path to the plaza in the center of town.

The children marched with signs, bearing seedlings in their arms and smiles on their faces (or where they just happy to be out of class and in the sun?). After a brief opening to reiterate the importance of Tree Day, they eagerly filled holes dug by a few parent volunteers and planted around 50 small trees and plants all around the newest addition to Pavones’ centro. Many members of the community also came to support the efforts and donate their small plants.

It was certainly a refreshing sight to witness so many young people get excited about planting trees and beautifying their town, which, inevitably, fosters a heightened respect for the environment. Indeed, the future is hopeful!

Escuela Camino Claro’s littlest ones got their hands dirty, literally: ECC’s pre-k teacher, Becky, with some of her class planting a palm tree.

A Mural Project

After several consecutive Saturdays of preparation, our amateur artists were finally ready to get their hands (and feet) dirty and start painting the mural on Pavones’ public school, Escuela Las Gemelas.

Over the past month, varying groups of children have showed up for weekend workshops with Hadas, a parent and local art teacher, to learn about patterns we find in our environment. With Hadas’ artistic expertise, and some help from the ECC teachers, children were encouraged to think about the uniqueness of the Costa Rican culture and, more specifically, their home in Pavones. With a bit of practice, the children easily discovered how colorful patterns can be and how abundant they are in all areas of our life.

With a professional touch from mural artist Alex Lanau (website), the wave backdrop was a perfect palette for the kids to let loose and find their pattern. I was impressed with their dedication, originality, artistic skills: it really is turning into a piece of art that represents the essence of Pavones.

The mural is looking good so far (as Hadas and Raphel are demonstrating), but stay tuned next week for the finished product.

Take a closer look… ¡Qué lindo!

Mural Painting Project 2009

Last Saturday, Escuela Camino Claro initiated its yearly goal of collaborating with Pavones’ public school, Escuela Las Gemelas, in a project to beautify one rather dull wall.

In the first session of a three-weekend workshop, our crew of ECC participants, Raphel, Haley, and several students, showed up to help out with this community service project. Seeing at least a dozen kids at the school’s Biblioteca (library) on a weekend was quite inspiring: it was a muggy, hot day with a new swell in town and a few soccer partidos going on in the plaza to boot. But, afterall, who wouldn’t want to play with colors, read stories, and make human patterns?

Thanks to Hadas, the art teacher volunteer and co-founder of Pavones’ first library, the project was orquestrated beautifully and the children spent the first session learning how to recognize patterns, find that they are abundant in everyday life, and appreciate patterns throughout different cultures. With the help of Pavones resident and skilled muralist, Alex Lanau (check out his surf art at http://www.myspace.com/alexlanau), the currently bare wall will soon be covered in an aesthetic mesh of unique patters and designs painted by the children. Stay tuned in a few weeks for the final project and in the meantime check out some photos…

Human patterns are FUN (and a little challenging)!

Some of the students designing their own patterns on paper

Raphel and Alex are displaying some of the examples of a finished mural: come back and check in a few weeks for the real thing!